Team India's last global event triumph came in 2013 when they won the Champions Trophy.
Despite such a level of domination, there is one thing missing from the cabinet of Men in Blue. Virat and company have failed to lift an ICC trophy as of now. While India lost the final of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to arch-rivals Pakistan, they suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the first semi-final of World Cup 2019.
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Therefore, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar wants the Kohli-led Indian team to address this issue and end the drought of ICC trophy.
“Winning tournaments is one thing but staying at top is another. India is still the top-ranked Test team and is almost among the top teams in the limited-overs format. So, we should not base their performance only on their showing in ICC events. Of course, they should win ICC events and they have to. This team, when the top four score, they win more often than not. But if they don't, then it is an issue,” Akhtar told PTI.
India last won an ICC tournament in 2013 when the MS Dhoni-led side beat England in the final of the Champions Trophy.
Talking about the Indian cricket team's inability to win a global event since last seven years, Shoaib said Kohli's team needs match-winners in the middle-order.
“Another thing I noticed is that you need a match-winner like Yuvraj (Singh) or Dhoni in the middle-order," the Rawalpindi Express said.
"When we toured India in 1998, we always thought we would run through India after getting the top order. There was no match winner until Yuvraj came in, followed by Dhoni. Then you started seeing change in results. Right now, the problem is lack of finishers," he explained.
Despite the 2-0 Test series whitewash in New Zealand earlier this year, Akhtar expects India to do well in their upcoming away assignment in Australia later this year.
"I think India is a very, very good team and can give a tough time to Australia. But again, India have to prove that like they did the last time,” he asserted.
Shoaib, however, doesn’t see any cricket happening for the next 12 months due to COVID-19 outbreak across the globe.
"However, I don't see that series happening. My assessment is there won't be any cricket for next one year. The T20 World Cup is not going to happen. We are dealing with a pandemic at the moment. Any industry, which requires crowd gathering, is going to suffer," he concluded.